How does a problem turn into an opportunity? Early-stage founders only have the positive road ahead in mind. It’s hard to think about what could go wrong when you have just started and is excitedly positive about the future success of the business. As the company grows however, problems and disputes are bound to grow in magnitude as well. If you do not have policies and guidelines in place and fail to resolve the problem satisfyingly with the customer, you are bound to lose not only one but a lot of them in the process. As such, the importance of setting up a dispute resolution system very early on should spur you to action to avoid bigger problems in the future. Conflicts and disputes should be viewed as an opportunity to do better, educate, improve, and eventually succeed. You will see how more people will put their trust in you as you show them how can take good care of them even after the sale has been closed. This episode is about seeing the good, the positive, and the opportunities to problems in relation to your ability to resolve disputes in and outside of the company.
Larry Friedberg is the Founder and Principal of 380West, a boutique marketing consultancy which caters to small, medium-sized businesses and is based in the Bay Area. Through his consulting practice, he helps the same businesses with branding, lead generation, product marketing, and trust marketing. He uses his 25 years of experience as a marketing executive and fractional CMO to drive results both for B2B and B2C marketing. He used to serve as the Director of Trust at eBay and Head of Trust and Safety at Paypal.
Colin Rule is the Vice President of Online Dispute Resolution at Tyler Technologies, a huge software company which provides integrated software as well as technology services to the public sector. Colin is also co-founder of Modria which is a dispute resolution service provider online and based in the Silicon Valley. Modria was acquired by Tyler last year, 2017. Colin builds ODR tools for mediation, arbitration, and negotiation. He was likewise with eBay and Paypal as Director of Online Dispute Resolution. His career lies mainly at the intersection of technology and conflict resolution.
In this Episode:
- The essence of ODR or Online Dispute Resolution and internal dispute resolution
- How disputes are a natural part of the human condition in the family, workplace, online, and everywhere
- How typical startups do not think about disputes that much
- How, as the company grows, disputes balloon to a point of mismanagement
- The importance of investing in post-transaction dispute resolution
- How to set up a post-sale buyer experience to ensure you do not lose any customers
- How policies help prevent the occurrence of disputes
- How a company’s ability to resolve problems encourage trust and loyalty in customers
- How dispute resolution can be made into an opportunity to educate customers
- How founders can start to set up a dispute resolution scheme and better buyer experiences
- How customers problems open various opportunities for company growth when properly resolved
- The type of people to hire as front-liners and problem solvers
- How to avoid an oppositional orientation in resolving problems with customers
- How to create a healthy and productive conflict culture inside the company
- The process of dispute resolution via a mediation
Connect with Larry and Colin!
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